Jewish New Year for Trees

On the 3rd February members of Bromley Reform Synagogue, together with members of the local community (including Jim Dowd MP and Councillor Susan Wise) planted a tree at the Horniman Play Park in Forest Hill to celebrate Tu B'Shevat—The Jewish new year for trees.

The tree chosen was a Paper Bark Maple (Acer griseum) or in Hebrew אֶדֶר (eder) Interestingly there is another incredibly similar word in Hebrew אֵדֶר (ayder) which is translated as the hide of a stuffed animal. Just across the road from the play park is the Horniman Museum which is probably most famous for their collection of stuffed animals!

I would like to say that this was all carefully planned, but no, it was just a remarkable coincidence, but I can't think of a more suitable tree to plant opposite the museum.

If you visit the Horniman Triangle you can see this tree in the corner of the play park, behind the swings. Across the road in Horniman  Gardens, between the sunken garden and the nature reserve you can visit the Sweet Chestnut tree that  Bromley Synagogue planted two years ago for Tu B'Shevat and to commemorate the visit of Janusz Korczak to Forest Hill one hundred years earlier. This tree now has a plaque so you can find it.